Speeches

Apr182012

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the space shuttle Discovery flew through the blue sky over the Nation's capital on its way to its final resting place at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Virginia. The flyover was met by cheers from some but tears from others.

Space travel in America is history. Our government has chosen to abandon the space program as we know it. JFK, NASA, and America put the first man on the moon, but we have been the leader in the space race for years. Now the sun has set on American manned space travel. Now we are raising the white flag of surrender in space travel to the Russians. JFK might not approve.

Ironically, American astronauts will have to rely on an expensive ride from the Russians just to get to the Space Station.

Former Discovery astronaut Dr. Anna Fisher said it well when a bright young boy asked her how he could become an astronaut one day. She said, study Russian. That ought not to be.